Nigel Farage will today pledge tax breaks for married couples to encourage people to have bigger families.
In a major speech, the Reform UK leader will argue Britain faces an ‘existential crisis’ because of plummeting birth rates and that the tax system needs overhauling to incentivise marriage and help couples afford more children.
Boosting birth rates would create a bigger homegrown workforce, he is expected to argue, helping end reliance on foreign labour.
Scrapping the two-child benefit cap would ‘just be the start’ under a Reform government, he is expected to add.
In a bid to outflank Sir Keir Starmer by appealing to Left-leaning Labour voters, he will pledge to fully reinstate the winter fuel allowance for pensioners.
But the Mail can reveal he will also announce plans for a transferable marriage tax allowance.
This would exempt one spouse from paying tax on the first £25,000 of their income. The other would enjoy a tax-free income of £20,000, the level at which the party has promised to raise the threshold for the basic rate.
At present, workers pay the 20 per cent rate of income tax on everything between £12,570 and £50,270.
In a major speech, the Reform UK leader will argue Britain faces an ‘existential crisis’ because of plummeting birth rates
In October, figures showed women in England and Wales had an average of 1.44 children between 2022 and 2023, the lowest rate on record
According to a draft of the speech seen by the Mail, Mr Farage is expected to say: ‘The collapsing birth rate in the UK, now well below the rates needed, is an existential crisis for our country.’
In the speech, to be delivered in Westminster, Mr Farage will argue this would help end a benefits-dependency culture and encourage more people back into work. He acknowledges not all changes may be affordable straight away.
He will taunt Tories by insisting TV debates at the next general election should only be between him and Sir Keir because Reform is now the unofficial opposition.
According to a draft of the speech seen by the Mail, he is expected to say: ‘We need to encourage people to have families and ensure they feel financially able to have them. The collapsing birth rate in the UK, now well below the rates needed, is an existential crisis for our country. The Tories and Labour have sought to solve it with open borders.
‘A Reform government will cut net immigration to zero and do everything in its power to encourage British people who are able and want kids to have them.
‘Scrapping the two-child [benefit] cap is just the start. We will, as soon as finances allow, introduce a UK 25 per cent transferable marriage tax allowance.’
He will brand the current benefits system ‘perverse’ because it means some can work part-time 16 hours a week but earn less than if they claimed benefits.
But the Tories last night attacked the plans. Writing in this newspaper, shadow chancellor Mel Stride says: ‘Reform has shown up with fantasy economics.’
Estimates suggest raising the basic rate of income tax threshold to £20,000 could cost more than £50billion. Reform insiders insist they could pay for the plans by scrapping Net Zero, deporting illegal asylum seekers, closing migrant hotels and slashing bureaucracy, raising up to £62billion.
Ellie Reeves, chairman of the Labour Party, said: ‘Nigel Farage, a private-educated stockbroker and career politician, has only ever cared about his own self-interest and personal ambition, never about what is good for working people in this country.’
In October, figures showed women in England and Wales had an average of 1.44 children between 2022 and 2023, the lowest rate on record.
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Farage pledges tax breaks for married couples to encourage them to have bigger families… and help Britain reverse the ‘existential crisis’ of plummeting birth rates